A.M. Roundup: It’s Cuomo and Hochul on the 2014 ticket

Good morning! The action’s downstate again today as New York Democrats begin Day Two of their convention on Long Island. Will that mean the lines at the capitol food trucks are any shorter? Not a chance.

Lt. Gov. Bob Duffy was at the convention Wednesday to warm up the crowd. Duffy tweaked GOP candidate Rob Astorino by declaring, “When people say New York is losing, I’ll tell you right now, New York state is winning.” (DN) (No, not this kind of of winning.)

Educators from around the state — including SUNY Chancellor Nancy Zimpher — met Wednesday to talk about plans to connect schools with the state’s nanotech program. Known as P-Tech, the program would be grades 9 through 14, and graduates would leave with high school diplomas and associate degrees. (TU)

Less than three years after Cuomo sought to ban health insurers from forcing people to use mail-order pharmacies, consumer advocates are looking to close a loophole that allows them to continue to do so. (TU)

Judy Sanders, former TV reporter and official photographer for three governors, is saying a long goodbye during the end stages of her terminal disease. “Let’s celebrate life,” she says, “and what comes after.” (TU)

Buffalo News: Cuomo values loyalty, but we hope he also values a sharp mind and woman who doesn’t mind speaking it. It’s safe to assume that Hochul will be a team player for Cuomo, but also safe to assume that she will be willing to tell the boss when she thinks he’s making a mistake. He should listen, because Hochul has shown herself to be a first-rate politician with a trained ear to the ground.

Chris Churchill: What child, I ask you, wouldn’t benefit from luxuriating in a casino’s climate-controlled comfort? How could Camp Is-Sho-Da’s proximity to such delights be anything but a lucky break?

23 Responses

“Billionaire environmental activist Tom Steyer will spend $100 million on Senate and governor’s races this year, backing candidates who support climate change policies”
You know what they say about a fool and his money.
“Electricity prices are predicted to rise as coal-fired power plants come offline in favor of cleaner energy sources.”
Of course they’re going to rise despite all that “cheap” renewables. :)
And in other news: China now uses as much coal as the rest of the world COMBINED!

Moreland Commission needs a criminal defense attorney, well I would say there must be some subpoenas floating around to warrant this. Get ready Bill Fitz, Kathy Rice and crew, Andy’s getting ready to throw your butts under the bus.

The disbanded Moreland Commission has hired a criminal defense attorney as it faces a probe by federal prosecutors, according to people familiar with the matter. (WSJ)
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The hunters have now become the hunted, eh?
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The most ironic part of this turn of events, if my memory serves me correctly, most, if not all, the members of the Moreland Act Commission were/are, themselves, attorneys!
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So, now we have attorneys, protecting attorneys, from attorneys…. strange world, NY politics!

(..Judy Sanders, former TV reporter and official photographer for three governors, is saying a long goodbye during the end stages of her terminal disease. “Let’s celebrate life,” she says, “and what comes after.” (TU))

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A beautifully written story by Paul Grondahl.
I met Judy when I was roaming around the State Capital in an earlier life.
She was aggressive as a reporter, but nice when the microphone was tucked away.
Take care, lady.

John Faso, former state Assembly minority leader and candidate for governor, is part of a SuperPAC formed to aid Republican House candidates in New York. (DN)
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If only NYers had a clue, Faso would have beaten Hevesi for Comptroller in 2004 and we could have avoided the resulting scandals. Plus Tommy D would still be in the Assembly. Of course he would still be doing whatever Silver told him to do, so that part isn’t different.

Educators from around the state — including SUNY Chancellor Nancy Zimpher — met Wednesday to talk about plans to connect schools with the state’s nanotech program. Known as P-Tech, the program would be grades 9 through 14, and graduates would leave with high school diplomas and associate degrees. (TU)
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This should be the path followed by every high school student in New York, as an option to going to a 4-year college directly out of high school or directly into military service at age 18 for a mandatory 3-4 year stretch. No more of this nonsense of allowing kids to drop out of school at age 16. Quitting school is such a waste of taxpayer dollars and harks back to a time when most people who worked wore blue collared shits to the mill, factory, plant or mine. Those days have long since gone for all but a handful of New Yorkers. When a kids drops out, I as a taxpayer, feel cheated.

“So you thought you were rid of me,” said former Gov. David Paterson after Cuomo named him chairman of the state Democratic Party. As for Democrats winning control of the state Senate, Paterson won’t be leading a charge into the fray: “We might have to settle for chipping away,” he said. (CapCon)
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Thats it David, lower expectations right away. You have a governor at the head of the ticket who is not liked but respected enough to get 62-65% of votes to be cast and you need a net gain of what, 2 Senate seats? Flush out your Senate rebels in the primaries and go for the brass ring, you fool….

There’s still a possibility for another gaming partner in Rensselaer County. In East Greenbush, the Town Board listened to public comments for nearly two hours about the proposed casino, and set a June 4 hearing on whether to approve the project. Anti-casino groups will hold a meeting tonight in Albany. (TU)
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As Al Pacino said, “It is amazing what the scent of a woman will do to a man.” In this case, we are talking about Lady Luck. She has got the local powerful, political elites, and wannabe’s in a tither over placement of gambling casinos in their back yard. And, all the money men in that industry are coming out of the woodwork too to grab at a piece. Hear it? Me, me, me, me, me!

“This looks like it could be the Decade of the City”: Across the country, Americans are choosing cities over suburbs, Census figures show. (USAT)
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What the census figures are showing is is the escalating growth of poor, mostly Black and Asian people in urban centers and migration of people to where work opportunities exist. However, there are professionals who have opted out of the daily two hour drive from and back to the suburbs from jobs located in urban centers. Cities are growing but many are going bankrupt in the process because they lack the financial resources needed to keep pace with the needs of their changing populations. The Federal government, for instance, dropped their support for cities to a pittance 30 years ago, during the Reagan/Bush era, and many states have followed their lead. Even in a wealthy state like New York, the six largest cities are operating deep in the red, and both the state and federal governments could care less.

Only in NY would the commission formed to investigate corruption get the rug pulled out from under them, then get investigated themselves by the Feds and have to hire a criminal defense lawyer. Why the members of the defunct Moreland Commission aren’t out there screaming about King Cuomo’s manipulation escapes me. Well, not really, many of them have reason to suck up to Cuomo and THE PARTY, and then there’s the lack of integrity and courage.

Sorry to hear about Judy Sander’s illness, she could be rather abrasive at times, but she was an excellent reporter and photographer.

The way I see it the Moreland commission farce is going to be prosecuted for not prosecuting Cuomo for his crimes against the state of New York. We all feel remorse for this poor woman that has been forced to run on Cuomo’s re election campaign as Lt Governor.It’s sad to see her throw her career down the toilet for his benefit.

Regardless of how one feels about casinos, the decision to hold this meeting at a small town hall and deny residents access to the overcrowded session was a dumb one. It’s on Langley. He’s such a snake he should run for higher office.

“Independent Democratic Conf. Leader Klein says he wants a bipartisan public financing system.” With 3 weeks left in the Leg. session and the Republicans opposed to public financing, Klein just said kiss it goodbye for this year. Gee that’s a surprise except for the fact that Klein has a hard primary.

Darth,
Come on, you are smart enough to know that any change to the pension system would require legislation and the State Comptroller is not a legislator. So your fear in this case (not that it matters of course, Faso got beat) is misplaced. At least Faso wouldn’t have let feel good issues and politically correct investments part of his investment approach.

With Pattison now part of the Democratic Party leadership, and with a Republican that I can’t vote for, I will officially be voting for the ticket of John Isner and Niclas Mahut, who did more in 3 days than anyone in Albany did in their lifetime.

EriK:
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If you think a comptroller needs legislation to take down the pension trust fund, you don’t understand the pension trust fund.
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Two words: sole trustee.
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He could have easily (and purposely) lost money and made it insolvent, and I wouldn’t put it past an anti-pension Republican to do just that to manufacture a crisis they can capitalize on.